ER
THE ELECTRIC vehicle joint venture founded by Sony Group Corp and Honda Motor Co plans to ship its first electric vehicle (EV) in North America in the spring of 2026.
Based on a report from Kyodo, Sony Honda Mobility Inc. will manufacture its cars at Honda’s North American plants and begin taking orders primarily online from the first half of 2025, with deliveries in Japan expected to follow in the second half of 2026.
The Tokyo-based company launched last month with the aim of producing the next generation of EVs by combining Sony’s expertise in sensors and entertainment and Honda’s car-building skills.
The company is also considering selling vehicles in Europe, although there is no further information regarding when they will do so.
“We need to take a different approach from traditional automakers to lead innovation in mobility,” said Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno at a press conference in Tokyo.
“We’re going to be a new company, a mobility technology company, built on software technology,” he added.
The company plans to leverage the metaverse, a virtual-reality space where people can socialize, work and play, and other types of entertainment in creating a unique passenger experience while also adding partial self-driving capabilities.
The two Japanese companies announced their business plans in March, following a worldwide competition for industrial partnerships in the transition to electrified vehicles.
Sony and Honda each own a 50% stake in the new venture, which is capitalized at 10 billion yen (US$68 million). [antaranews/photo special]
